Wednesday, 7 December 2011

7 December 1941

Image courtesy http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm
Today, it's 70 years ago since the Japanese Imperial Forces attacked the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack was unprovoked, but served to bring the United States into the Second World War, as Germany declared war on the USA alongside Japan. It was a fatal mistake on the part of Japan. Although the Japanese forces managed to occupy large swathes of territory in the Pacific and southeast Asia, they were in the end thrown back on their homeland. It took the detonation of two nuclear bombs, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to force the surrender of Emperor Hirohito, three months after Nazi Germany was defeated.